Atmospheric chemistry of carboxylic acids: microbial implication versus photochemistry

Mickaël Vaitilingom (1) , Tiffany Charbouillot (2) , Laurent Deguillaume (3) , Romain Maisonobe (1) , Marius Parazols (2) , Pierre Amato (1) , Martine Sancelme (1) , A.M. Delort (1)

1 SEESIB - Synthèse et étude de systèmes à intêret biologique
2 PMM - Photochimie moléculaire et macromoléculaire
3 LaMP - Laboratoire de météorologie physique

The objective of this work was to compare experimentally the contribution of photochemistry vs. microbial activity to the degradation of carboxylic acids present in cloud water. For this, we selected 17 strains representative of the microflora existing in real clouds and worked on two distinct artificial cloud media that reproduce marine and continental cloud chemical composition. Photodegradation experiments with hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) as a source of hydroxyl radicals were performed under the same microcosm conditions using two irradiation systems. Biodegradation and photodegradation rates of acetate, formate, oxalate and succinate were measured on both media at 5 °C and 17 °C and were shown to be on the same order of magnitude (around 10−10–10−11 M s−1). The chemical composition (marine or continental origin) had little influence on photodegradation and biodegradation rates while the temperature shift from 17 °C to 5 °C decreased biodegradation rates of a factor 2 to 5.

Domaines: Océan, Atmosphère

Mickaël Vaitilingom, Tiffany Charbouillot, Laurent Deguillaume, Romain Maisonobe, Marius Parazols, et al.. Atmospheric chemistry of carboxylic acids: microbial implication versus photochemistry. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 2011, 11 (11), pp.8721-8733. ⟨10.5194/acp-11-8721-2011⟩. ⟨hal-00597336⟩